Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Last time I looked, Barack Obama is the current President of the United States. Candidly, I am not a fan of President Obama, and I certainly never voted for him. But it is the task – if not the Constitutional duty – of a president to submit nominations to the U.S. Senate for federal judicial vacancies. And it is the Senate’s Constitutional duty to receive and vote upon them based upon merit judicial temperament and judicial philosophy. I agree that it is not expressly written that the Senate must hold hearings and vote in a timely fashion, but I feel strongly that this can and should be inferred by the express duties that are set forth. Thus for the “leaders” in the Senate to say in advance that they will not even consider any of the President’s nominees for the vacancy left by the death of Justice Scalia – without even knowing who that nominee will be – is a direct abdication of the Senate’s duty!

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice

President, along with Governor

Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Without question, under these political circumstances it is hugely important to our country’s future who will fill that vacancy. But we have government processes provided by the Constitution, and refusing to follow them – or simply ignoring them – is a direct and fundamental threat to our basic form of government. Thus Liberty and Responsible Government demand that those processes be honored – even if that might result in some political reversals for some points of view.

Judge Jim Gray

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Judge Jim Gray

About Judge Jim Gray

Cited on numerous occasions for his work in the areas of both social reform and civic philanthropy, Judge James P. Gray currently presides over the civil trial calendar for the Superior Court of Orange County.
Judge Gray was appointed to the Santa Ana Municipal Court in 1983 by Governor George Deukmejian, and in 1989, Deukmejian elevated Gray to his post with the Superior Court.
Throughout his 29-year career within the legal and judicial community, Jim Gray has not only donated hundreds of hours of volunteer time to existing community service-oriented activities, he also has created and implemented a number of innovative programs of his own, each one a success story in itself.